tains authority and order, and administers justice. But the instructing class, or the producing class, is just as truly a component part of the State as Government. And Government is the organ, not of a class, but of the whole body politic. Each class is an integral part. Each class sustains the Government. Indeed the vitalizing power of a prosperous State springs from the intelligent and virtuous portion of community. Were it becoming, therefore, to make any destinctions at all, I would say that the claims of the instructing class are primary claims, and the obligations of Government to it are not less than its obligations to the producing class, but greater. Such distinctions, however, are neither wise nor necessary. With much less propriety, consequently, can the legislative authorities make a distinction in favor of the mechanic arts, agriculture, commerce, or internal improvements, and treat the interests of education and virtue as matters of secondary importance. The design of society is not to set one man's feet on the shoulders of another, to keep one portion of mankind in ignorance and at hard labor, whilst another may revel amid the luxuries of wealth. It is not simply to dig canals and construct railroads, to erect extensive manufactories, and build large cities, to afford facilities for refined indulgence in sensuality, and increase the temptations to inactivity and indolence. But, as already stated and proved, society is that order of human life, in virtue of which, mankind, including all ranks and classes without exception, all the conditions being present, may realize the great end of their existence-in virtue of which, all the lower objects on earth, culminating in one that is eternal, may be accomplished. It is a divine order, established by inviolable laws. Government is no more than the necessary medium through which this divine order is maintained-the organ of the great body politic, whose function it is to conduct the affairs of society in such a way that all the wants of mankind, physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual, may be fully satisfied. Government has, therefore, no more right to overlook morals than to neglect commerce-no more right to be indifferent to the education of the masses than to violate the rights

of person and property-no more right to despise Christianity than to abrogate the fundamental principles of the Constitution. All interests are interwoven. All the relations of individuals and society are connected like the numerous branches of the nervous system. If Government be indifferent to common schools, colleges and universities, it is not only faithless to its trust, but foolish in the extreme. Morals and intelligence affect the main-springs of social life. They are related to the details of business and to commercial affairs in general, as the brain and the heart are related to the healthful condition of the nervous and veinous systems. As well might a physician hope to restore a man to health, who is threatened with a malignant disease of the brain or heart, by applying a little salve to his fingers or toes, as Government attempt to establish general prosperity, private and public weal, by confining its attention to merely material interests. The very first conception of society or of Government, requires a far different, a far more comprehensive view of its obligations. Every able statesman, every skillful diplomatist, every true patriot, every politician who has the least claim to the cognomen, will respect the wants of the mind and the heart as of primary importance. What! Attempt to actualize the great end of society, when ignorance and wickedness, like vultures, feed on the vitals of the body politic. As well expect a racer to reach the goal when his ham-strings are cut. As well expect the eagle to ride upon the storm-cloud when his wings are dislocated. No! If Government be indifferent to moral law or general intellectual culture, the first conditions of social prosperity and happiness are repudiated.

For, it must be borne in mind that educatiou in its whole compass affects the noblest endowments of mankind. Mind constitutes the man. Not animal nature and animal powers, not what likens the sons of God to the beasts of the field, constitute the distinctive characteristics of his being; but the indescribable powers of reason, the dominant energies of the will, the ability of that which is created in the image of God, to flap its mighty wings, rise above the limitations of the senses, re

view the past, survey the present and penetrate the futurethese endowments give to man his manliness. These distinguish him from the brute. These reveal both his sphere and his destiny.

Who, after all, are the governors of the world? Kings and Emperors? Presidents, members of Cabinet and Senators? No! The men of intellectual strength and moral worth. A little Hebrew foundling established a civil and religious polity that was perpetuated during a period of fifteen hundred years. Why? Because he obeyed God and was familiar with the whole extent of Egyptian learning. All history is full of illustrations. Who have generated the great thoughts that live in England? Such men as Shakespeare, Spencer or Milton in poetry-such as Pitt and Burke in oratory-such as Newton, Bacon, Reid and Locke in natural and moral science-such as Wellington in military affairs. Who gave impetus to an energy and enterprize, that has unfolded a national prosperity unparalleled in the history of the world? The leading minds among the colonies at Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. Who have given such a fixed cast to the political mind of America, that the heterogeneous millions from foreign lands are assimilated as if by the resistless power of Alchemy? Such men as Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Henry, Adams and others. I need not multiply illustrations or proof. In Church or State, mind, educated and devout mind, will always in virtue of an inexpressible energy assert its controlling power. It is true beyond all controversy: Intellectual, moral and religious culture are the fountain from which great thoughts flow; the main-spring from which all great movements receive their impulse; the earthly foundation stones, laid by the Creator, by which the whole social fabric is bound together. These fundamental elements of social progress and national greatness, Government must respect and foster or become guilty of high treason. I repeat, therefore, that the very nature and design of society imposes on Government the obligation to guard and develop the highest endowments of mankind-to devise and promote plans by which the intellectual and moral wants of all classes of men may be properly satisfied.

It will be apposite also to reflect that efficiency and success are intimately connected with obligation. What the vocation of Government imposes upon it as a primary duty, the regular operation of cause and effect render essential to its prosperity and even to its existence. Commercial, financial and national prosperity depend upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. This holds true particularly of our own country, where a Government prevails that makes Americans their own servants and their own masters. To construct a rail-road, or to connect one city with another by a telegraphic wire, requires an intelligent atmosphere and public spirit, as truly as to publish a work on Geometry, Chemistry or History and give it an extensive circulation.

This branch of the subject is susceptible of extended argument and various illustration, but for want of time, I am compelled to curtail the discussion.

The distinctive feature of our Republican Government is the supremacy of law. Not rank, nor blood, nor wealth, rules in our free land, but law; not the decisions of human caprice, nor the arbitrary opinions of enthusiasts, nor the temporary maxims of a political party, but the eternal principles of right and wrong hold the sway in our Federal and State Constitutions. Human will is not law in America; but the divine will, as apprehended and expounded by the free understanding of Americans, in its application to the various exigencies and contingencies of social and political life. Every fundamental law has thus on the one hand the sanction of God's authority, and on the other the approval of conscience. Here lies our strength. The recognition of this principle by the people has given stability to our political institutions. The ruling mind of the nation has been sensible of its subjection to divine law and divine authority. Notwithstanding the fluctuations in commerce, notwithstanding the political agitations that have tossed and jarred the Union like a ship in a storm, yet the sense of the supremacy of law has bound our country as by a strong cable. to her moorings. But so soon as ignorance and wickedness shall cut this cable, so soon as the fear of God shall be extin

guished in the hearts of the citizens of America, the breastwork that keeps back lawlessness and rampant vice, will be broken down and the floods of destruction will sweep unchecked over the length and breadth of the land. The prevalence of Christianity gave character to all the colonies of England, Germany, the Netherlands and France, that settled along the Atlantic coast. Although hundreds of thousands have since, from year to year, sought an asylum on our shores, yet the vital energy of the original spirit, perpetuated from one decennium to another, has continued to fashion the growing nation. Would Government perpetuate our free institutions; would Government be sustained by the general mind of the people; would it maintain civil authority and justice, then must the increasing thousands of our own poor that congregate in our towns and cities, and the millions that crowd upon us from foreign countries, be educated in harmony with the genius and spirit of these United States. Government owes it as a first duty to itself, imposed even by the law of self-preservation, to promote the intellectual, moral and religious culture of the masses by all the means at its command. If the American Government would be efficient and permanent, it must seek to elevate all classes of society, that all may appreciate and honor divine law and social order. There is no safeguard but the intelligence and virtue of the people.

Whence come our senators, our members of Congress, our presidents and governors, all our officers from the lowest to the highest? Not from a privileged class, who have all the pecuniary resources and the miltary power at their command. No; we get them from the work-shop and the field; from the counting-room and the bar; from native-born Americans and naturalized Germans, Irish, Hollanders or Frenchmen; from the poor and the rich; from vile debauchees and devout Christians. All ranks and classes contribute their quota. In monarchical governments the privileged classes are highly educated. One reason is because they are called to assume the responsibility of governmental affairs. In the United Staees, all are privileged classes; all may ascend the steps and sit down in the